Snips: sizing up the difference between Felco and Niwaki

We stock two brands of secateurs and snips. Felco and Niwaki. Both are considered to be the best brands for gardening cutting tools and both are brilliant. Buy either and you’ll be happy and have the right tool in your hand – we promise.  Deciding between the two is sometimes the tricky part, and each brand have their own die-hard fans.  So we are here to give you some impartial advice.

Firstly, whilst both brands have a range of snips to choose from, we’ve selected the ones from each that we think are the best snips.

Niwaki: we recommend two different options from Niwaki.

• Niwaki Forged Snips – their heavier duty snips (compared to their other garden snips)
• Niwaki Mainichi snips – these sit between a secateur and a snip – they look like a secateur and feel like a secateur (slightly heavier) but have slightly narrower blades so they can get into tighter spots.  We used to say you only need one pair of snips, but now we definitely recommend a pair of Mainichi snips as an addition to your gardening tools. I wouldn’t own just these, unless you weren’t looking for precision – which is what most people want from snips.

Our recommended choice from Felco is the Felco 322 snip as they have the longest, thinnest blades in the range.  Which means they are perfect for intricate snipping. Which is what we want snips for – to get in amongst the flowers to cut them for flower arranging.

At this time of year – we would have either the Niwaki Forged Snips or the Felco 322’s in hand. Apart from when I’m endlessly deadheading the bush roses – as I’m lazy and cut heads off in bulk with little thought as there are too many to be precise. So that’s when I’d use the Niwaki Mainichi’s as these are more like a secateur and can handle the slightly thicker stems and the hugely repetitive, monotonous task. I’d also use the Mainichi’s more as we approach autumn, where I’d be doing a mix of jobs and too lazy to switch between the right tool for the job (they are a great middle ground between secateurs and snips).

So – let’s take the Mainichi’s out for a moment and just compare the Niwaki Forged Snips and the Felco 322 snips. Both are brilliant. We recommend both. They are both super precise and perfect for cutting intricate stems, for getting in between tangles of sweet peas and harvesting beans, tomatoes and anything that you want some extra care in your cut and come again.

But which of these snips should you buy? We've created an easy comparison table below, but here are the details... 

Precision: the Niwaki Forged Snips are 2mm at the top of the blade - they are as precise as you can get - meaning you can snip away perfectly in the tightest of spaces. The Felco 322 snips are 5mm at the top of the blade. So they are over twice as wide. If you value precision over everything else, then this is the dealbreaker.  

Blade material: Bizarrely, given the main differentiating point between Felco and Niwaki is usually the blade steel and where they are made, these snips are both made in Japan.  The Niwaki snips are Carbon steel and the Felco are Chromium.  

Comfort. Because having the right tool in your hand, that feels comfortable and doesn’t leave you feeling strained or sore, is absolutely key. So you need a really well designed handle. Whilst this sounds basic, hand ergonomics isn’t easy – you know when you just pick something up and it feels ‘right’. Well, the Felco snips do exactly that.  The interesting thing is that snips often have delicate, or thinner handles. These Felco snips don’t - they are bigger than than the Niwaki Forged Snips (18mm v's 14mm). They look more akin to a secateur handle. They have more bulk, but they aren’t heavy - they weigh the same as the Niwaki Forged Snips. They are just super comfortable to have in the hand when you are gardening.  Don't get me wrong - the Niwaki Forged Snips feel good in the hand, but I think the Felco 322’s are just a bit more comfortable when you are using them for longer. 

The closing mechanism on the Niwaki Forged Snips looks better and is easier to use – it’s just elastic that loops over the handle to keep them closed. Originally, when I first saw the Felco 322s, I thought the clasp, a plastic ring at the bottom, was cheap looking and would get in the way whilst gardening. There’s no getting away from it – I still prefer the aesthetics of the Niwaki Forged Snips closing loop. However, the closer on the Felco snips doesn’t get in the way – it isn’t irritating, it’s just different (uglier but not a problem practically).

Additional features: There’s one main difference between the Felco and the Niwaki snips – the Felco snips have a ‘bump stop’ (technically they are called polyurethane shock absorbers) - but they are little plastic bumps that stop the snips from closing too hard. I underrated this when I saw them to start with (I thought it was just more slightly ugly plastic), but they are really good. It just adds a bit of bounce to the cutting movement and that really helps when you are repeatedly cutting flowers like sweet peas. It really is the small things that sometimes make a difference between a good garden tool and a great one – and this is definitely one of them.

Finally, let’s talk springs. The Felco has a large spring mechanism. The Niwaki Forged Snips have spring that looks like a croissant. Both can be replaced and fixed. We have never lost a spring or had a problem with the Niwaki Forged Snips, but we have replaced some for customers who have (it’s really easy to do). The spring recoil is more noticeable on the Niwaki Forged Snips than the Felco 322.

Sound: The Niwaki ones just sound slightly better. Their blades always sound like cutting perfection. It makes absolutely no difference at all. But it's just there as light background noise that screams quality.  

So – in summary - we aren’t precision florists or flower arrangers here at Tinker and Fix, but we do like to have a cutting patch and veg patch. Super precise and comfy snips are a must have – and either the Niwaki or Felco versions are great. If you want precision and only want Carbon steel - then look no further than the Niwaki Forged Snips. If you're asking which am I now reaching for more often, out of comfort (handle and the clever bump stop), then it’s currently the Felco 322s…. then it's likely you won’t be able to get the brilliant Niwaki Mainichi’s out of my hand….before I revert from snips to secateur.